Morning journal and courier., 1887-12-28
Native Diamond Fields.

Major J. W. Powell, director of the United States Geological Survey, recently sent
 George E. Kunz and J. O. Dieler, experts,
 to make a thorough investigation of the
 diamond fields in Elliot county, Kentucky,
 and these two gentlemen have returned
 who is Tiffany & Co.'s expert, told
 reporter for the Mail and Express
 that he had every reason to believe that
 diamonds would be found in. considerable
 quantities in this country before long. He said:
 s:We found 8 great similarity of the peri
 dolite of Elliott county, Ky, to that of the South African diamond fields. An inves- tigation was made in May, 1885, but the
 character of the diamond bearing rock in
 South Africa was not then fully understood,
 and so no search was made for diamonds.
 Another investigation has recently been
 made. The locality where the diamonds are
 supposed to be is easily reached by way of
 the East Kentucky railroad, which ends a5 Willard From there we went by farmers
 conveyance another ten miles along Isom's creek to the best exposures of the perido-
 lite The peridolite here alters and disin-
 tegrates readily; but, from the fact that the declivity of the surface is considerable, the
 transportation of material almost keeps pace
 with disintegration, and there is no great accumulation of residuary deposits upon the narrow divides and hillsides. The specific gravity of the gems found in connection with
 peridolite is generally greater than that of
 other products of it's attenuation and on this account they accumulate upon the surface
 and in favorable positions along adjacent line of drainage. We searched by carefully sitting and banning the stream beds and got the people in the neighborhood to exam inc the steep slopes where gems might be exposed. We made careful search over @ very small area for two days, and, although ] I. 1al f<0 conclude that there were none there. On the contrary, we found that the peridolite of Ken lucky was very similar to that of Kimberly and other diamond fields of South Africa, which would make it appear that there is a very great probability of finding diamonds in Kentucky.
 FfIn what other parts of the country have diamonds been found?"
 ssOne was found at Manchester opposite | Richmond, Va. After it was cut it weighed | ten karats. This was discovered by a 1aborel | and was sold for $1 800. A few stones have been found at the Portis mines, North Caro | lima; in Hall county Georgia, and il 1 Oregon. A very fine stone was found ir Butte county, California, and two stones \ weighing more than two karats each, were 1 found in Indiana. The first diamond found \ in North Carolina was at the ford of Brindla ! town creek. It is valued at $10O. Severa 1 others were found in that vicinity. A dia 1 mond weighing As karats and Slo mllllgrams was found on the Alfred Bright farm, ir l Dysartville, McDowell county, North Caro- l lima, last year by Willie Christie, the 12 year 1 old son of Payson Christie. He saw in 2 ! spring what he termed a pretty trick, I picked it out of the water and took it home I After trying in vain to find out what it was | it was sent to me and I found it was a dia l mend. It is quite perfect, but not pure white | having faint grayish-yellow tint. Last ! summer visited the place where it was found. A number of supposed diamonds had been found, which proved to be smoky quartz, but no trace of garnet, peridolite or any of the associations of the diamond were ! found near the spot. This one is worth about $150."